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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoEric Albrecht | DISPATCH photosAnthony Yates, 19, center, wears red to represent Marion Franklin High School as fellow graduates wear colors representing their own high schools. Yates was one of many who attended summer commencement at East High School yesterday.

As the capped-and-gowned students filed into the auditorium, a shout went up: “That’s my baby
over there.”

Balisia Blanchard, 46, of the Northeast Side, was one of hundreds of proud family members at
Columbus City Schools’ summer commencement yesterday, an event for students who didn’t quite
fulfill requirements in time for spring graduation at their schools.

Her daughter, Dyssigha Blanchard, is a junior graduating a year early from Beechcroft High
School. Dyssigha plans to study at Columbus State Community College for two years and then go to
the University of Cincinnati for veterinary medicine.

About 120 students crossed the stage in the East High School auditorium. Almost all had faced
adversity, such as a family tragedy or a low test score that required them to put in extra work
this summer.

Luis Fernandez was getting his diploma from Columbus Global Academy just eight months after he
emigrated from the Dominican Republic. The North Linden school is for students who do not speak
fluent English and often are new to the United States.

“When I came here, the language was an obstacle,” he said. “The teachers gave me support, and I
tried to do my best.”

He had the advantage of coming from a good Dominican Republic school where he had several years
of English. He lives with his father, who has been in the U.S. for about a decade, while his mother
and sister remain in the Dominican Republic.

Fernandez is heading to Columbus State to study computer engineering.

Anthony Yates had a message on his cap:

“Papa this is 4 U.” It was for his grandfather, Frederick Yates Jr., who died two years ago at
63.

Anthony said his grandfather was a role model who believed in the value of education and would
have loved to see this day.

“Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it,” he said.

Students were dressed in the colors of 20 different high schools. They stepped up to the stage,
accepted their diplomas from their principals and shook hands with a succession of district
officials, including Superintendent Dan Good.

“The thing that makes this a special graduation is every one of (the students) had something to
overcome,” said Kimberly Normand, principal at Columbus Global.

Michael Cole, a Columbus school board member, gave a rollicking keynote speech. He called out
the names of the high schools represented in the audience and was met with cheers and whistles.

“On behalf of your parents, I want to tell you, ‘Welcome to the world of grown folks,’ ” he
said.